Intraday Sessions & Sweeps
An open-source, clutter-free intraday market microstructure framework designed for TradingView. It maps global session liquidity anchors across the 24-hour UTC day without lagging indicators or misleading automated trade signals.
---
## The Philosophy: Why No "Buy / Sell" Arrows?
Most retail session indicators clutter the chart with premature "LONG" and "SHORT" labels. Extensive empirical backtesting across tens of thousands of crypto trading days reveals a hard reality: **mechanical bar-crossing signals hold near-zero edge after fees and slippage.**
A single bar closing back inside a session boundary does not constitute genuine structural absorption; in late sessions or weak volume environments, it frequently turns into a "dead-cat bounce" before another aggressive continuation leg.
**This script strips out all algorithmic execution suggestions.** Instead of pretending to be a black-box trading bot, it serves as a pure, objective structural coordinate map. It highlights where institutional resting orders reside, tracks when liquidity is swept, and lets you evaluate price action with zero visual noise.
---
## The Three-Phase Intraday Cycle (UTC)
Crypto markets trade 24/7, but institutional volume follows three distinct geographic regimes:
```
[ Asia Session: 00:00–08:00 UTC ] --> [ London Session: 08:00–16:00 UTC ] --> [ New York Session: 16:00–24:00 UTC ]
Anchor Formation Liquidity Sweep Delivery & Retest
```
1. **Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC) — Anchor Formation**:
* Characterized by lower relative volume, allowing price to establish clean daily balance boundaries.
* Resting liquidity (stop-loss clusters and breakout buy/sell stops) naturally pools immediately above the Asia High and below the Asia Low.
2. **London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC) — Liquidity Sweep**:
* European capital enters the market. London frequently probes beyond the Asia boundaries to absorb resting liquidity pools.
* In range-bound environments, this manifests as a liquidity grab rather than a sustained macro expansion.
3. **New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC) — Delivery & Resolution**:
* Wall Street open brings maximum daily liquidity. The market retests the swept levels to determine whether the sweep was an authentic breakout or an institutional liquidity sweep.
---
## Key Features & Visual Architecture
* **Three-Color Segmented Asia Lines (00:00–24:00 UTC)**:
At 08:00 UTC (Asia close), the script locks the definitive Asia High and Asia Low, projecting horizontal dashed lines spanning the entire 24-hour UTC day, color-coded by the active session:
* **Green Dashed Segment**: Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC)
* **Yellow Dashed Segment**: London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC)
* **Red Dashed Segment**: New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC)
* **Deduplicated First-Sweep Markers**:
* `SWEEP H`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia High.
* `SWEEP L`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia Low.
* Prevents label stacking and keeps your chart pristine during volatile multi-bar probes.
* **Minimalist Status Dashboard (Top-Right)**:
* Tracks the active UTC session in real time.
* Displays live sweep conditions (`Inside Range`, `Asia High Swept`, `Asia Low Swept`, or `Both Swept`).
* Shows the absolute point range established during the Asia session.
---
## Recommended Execution Workflow (SOP)
* **Timeframes**: 15-minute (`15m`) or 30-minute (`30m`).
* **Timezone Setting**: Ensure your chart's display timezone is set to **UTC**.
1. **00:00–08:00 UTC (Asia)**:
* **Hands off**. Allow the initial auction to establish the daily boundary.
2. **08:00–16:00 UTC (London)**:
* Watch how price interacts with the yellow dashed levels.
* Note if `SWEEP H` or `SWEEP L` appears. Avoid blind momentum chasing into newly swept extremes.
3. **16:00–24:00 UTC (New York)**:
* Look for price to re-engage the swept level (red dashed segments).
* **Validation Requirement**: Do not execute on a simple price touch. Look for order flow absorption (e.g., delta divergence, high volume with failure to push further, or multiple bar rejections) before positioning for mean-reversion toward the Asia range midpoint or the opposite boundary.
---
## Risk Disclaimer
This open-source indicator does not provide financial advice or automated trading execution. Session boundaries act as liquidity references, not guaranteed reversal zones. Always align intraday auction dynamics with higher-timeframe market structure and apply strict risk management on every trade.
---
## The Philosophy: Why No "Buy / Sell" Arrows?
Most retail session indicators clutter the chart with premature "LONG" and "SHORT" labels. Extensive empirical backtesting across tens of thousands of crypto trading days reveals a hard reality: **mechanical bar-crossing signals hold near-zero edge after fees and slippage.**
A single bar closing back inside a session boundary does not constitute genuine structural absorption; in late sessions or weak volume environments, it frequently turns into a "dead-cat bounce" before another aggressive continuation leg.
**This script strips out all algorithmic execution suggestions.** Instead of pretending to be a black-box trading bot, it serves as a pure, objective structural coordinate map. It highlights where institutional resting orders reside, tracks when liquidity is swept, and lets you evaluate price action with zero visual noise.
---
## The Three-Phase Intraday Cycle (UTC)
Crypto markets trade 24/7, but institutional volume follows three distinct geographic regimes:
```
[ Asia Session: 00:00–08:00 UTC ] --> [ London Session: 08:00–16:00 UTC ] --> [ New York Session: 16:00–24:00 UTC ]
Anchor Formation Liquidity Sweep Delivery & Retest
```
1. **Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC) — Anchor Formation**:
* Characterized by lower relative volume, allowing price to establish clean daily balance boundaries.
* Resting liquidity (stop-loss clusters and breakout buy/sell stops) naturally pools immediately above the Asia High and below the Asia Low.
2. **London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC) — Liquidity Sweep**:
* European capital enters the market. London frequently probes beyond the Asia boundaries to absorb resting liquidity pools.
* In range-bound environments, this manifests as a liquidity grab rather than a sustained macro expansion.
3. **New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC) — Delivery & Resolution**:
* Wall Street open brings maximum daily liquidity. The market retests the swept levels to determine whether the sweep was an authentic breakout or an institutional liquidity sweep.
---
## Key Features & Visual Architecture
* **Three-Color Segmented Asia Lines (00:00–24:00 UTC)**:
At 08:00 UTC (Asia close), the script locks the definitive Asia High and Asia Low, projecting horizontal dashed lines spanning the entire 24-hour UTC day, color-coded by the active session:
* **Green Dashed Segment**: Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC)
* **Yellow Dashed Segment**: London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC)
* **Red Dashed Segment**: New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC)
* **Deduplicated First-Sweep Markers**:
* `SWEEP H`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia High.
* `SWEEP L`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia Low.
* Prevents label stacking and keeps your chart pristine during volatile multi-bar probes.
* **Minimalist Status Dashboard (Top-Right)**:
* Tracks the active UTC session in real time.
* Displays live sweep conditions (`Inside Range`, `Asia High Swept`, `Asia Low Swept`, or `Both Swept`).
* Shows the absolute point range established during the Asia session.
---
## Recommended Execution Workflow (SOP)
* **Timeframes**: 15-minute (`15m`) or 30-minute (`30m`).
* **Timezone Setting**: Ensure your chart's display timezone is set to **UTC**.
1. **00:00–08:00 UTC (Asia)**:
* **Hands off**. Allow the initial auction to establish the daily boundary.
2. **08:00–16:00 UTC (London)**:
* Watch how price interacts with the yellow dashed levels.
* Note if `SWEEP H` or `SWEEP L` appears. Avoid blind momentum chasing into newly swept extremes.
3. **16:00–24:00 UTC (New York)**:
* Look for price to re-engage the swept level (red dashed segments).
* **Validation Requirement**: Do not execute on a simple price touch. Look for order flow absorption (e.g., delta divergence, high volume with failure to push further, or multiple bar rejections) before positioning for mean-reversion toward the Asia range midpoint or the opposite boundary.
---
## Risk Disclaimer
This open-source indicator does not provide financial advice or automated trading execution. Session boundaries act as liquidity references, not guaranteed reversal zones. Always align intraday auction dynamics with higher-timeframe market structure and apply strict risk management on every trade.
Clause de non-responsabilité
Les informations et publications ne sont pas destinées à être, et ne constituent pas, des conseils ou recommandations financiers, d'investissement, de trading ou autres fournis ou approuvés par TradingView. Pour en savoir plus, consultez les Conditions d'utilisation.
Clause de non-responsabilité
Les informations et publications ne sont pas destinées à être, et ne constituent pas, des conseils ou recommandations financiers, d'investissement, de trading ou autres fournis ou approuvés par TradingView. Pour en savoir plus, consultez les Conditions d'utilisation.